ROANOKE, VA.- Approximately ninety percent of the new Art Museum of Western Virginia building is enclosed. The building will be entirely enclosed in the next month once the installation of the curtain-wall framing and glass for the first floor education and outreach studio, birthday party room, concourse, and second floor skylight on the west side of the building is completed. Installation of the curtainwall framing is complete for the third floor, and eighty-five percent of the glass has been installed, including the third floor reception and office areas.

Installation of the stainless steel roof panels for Elements 2, 3 and 4 is expected to be completed in January. Installation of the exterior zinc panels continues on Elements 4 and 6 and will move from the north side to the west side of the building.

Hokie Stone is expected to be delivered to the site in the next few weeks and its application will begin shortly thereafter. It will be applied to the south elevation exterior wall at the exterior stairwell next to the Roanoke Valley Printworks building. In addition, Hokie Stone will be applied on the interior north wall (the wall of the lobby and the museum store) and on the curved wall under the grand staircase.

Installation of the steel structure for the visually-stunning grand staircase that connects the first and second floors began last week. Drywall for the interior gallery spaces has been hung in temporary galleries A and B, the contemporary art gallery and the corridor to the freight elevator. On the second floor, drywall hanging will continue for the remaining galleries, and the American art gallery will be hung by the end of the month. Drywall hanging will continue in a clockwise direction through the building. The platform for the freight elevator has been built on site and installation of the jack and rails, elevator equipment, door frames, elevator cab, and fixtures and wiring will continue.

The steel structure has been put into place to support the rebuilt 3-story façade of the building that formerly operated as the Lonesome Dove Bar & Grill and Tony’s Place. Ninety percent of the concrete block for the façade on Market Street has been laid and brickwork is scheduled to begin in December.

Element 1 houses the atrium and lobby, concourse, museum store, and a portion of the café. Element 2 houses the first floor auditorium, theater and lobby, equipment platforms, primary mechanical spaces, and the second floor art galleries, including the contemporary gallery. Element 3 of the building design houses the library, boardroom, boardroom terrace, director’s office, temporary galleries, Art Venture, and a portion of the café. Element 4 houses back of house mechanical rooms, housekeeping areas, art storage and the catering kitchen, third floor reception and administrative offices, and several small galleries, including the prints and photography, regional decorative arts, Leiber handbag collection, and modernism galleries. Elements 5 and 6 together house the art loading and service docks, new media gallery and American art gallery.

A half scale model of the new Art Museum building’s roof at the intersection of Elements 3 and 6 is on exhibit in the Art Museum’s current facility as part of the Process and Promise in a New Art Museum exhibition. The Art Museum galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is $3 per person Tuesday through Saturday and free on Sundays.